News from the Secretary March 2006
Prescription for a Healthy Planet. A report from Sarah Morton
The Prescription for a Healthy Planet posters and brochures have been very well received.
The project was launched to the media on Wednesday 22nd March. Prof. Tony McMichael, the renowned epidemiologist who sits on DEA’s Scientific Committee and Dr. David King, our DEA Queensland representative and GP advisor to the project, both took part in a number of regional radio interviews on the day and during the week following. Many thanks to Tony and David. News of the project launch was also circulated throughout several GP and physician e-lists, appeared on ABC Online and is due to appear in further medical media and surgical news in the coming weeks. The project’s new website http://www.healthyplanet.info displays the posters, brochures and further information, including how to sign-up to receive the posters. It has already recorded 6000 hits from more than 80 different users since the launch date.
Demand is likely to exceed the initial pilot project’s printing run of 200-250 copies of each poster. Some of the posters and brochures are still to be sent out this week, so if you signed up and haven’t received them yet, don’t worry. The project team will now need to discuss where we go from here.
Thank you to all who will be displaying the posters and to all those who helped to spread the word about the project. If you would like to display the posters but haven't yet registered to receive them, please do so, as we hope to supply more in the near future and this will help to guide our decisions. To view the posters or register to receive them please go to the above website or email posters@dea.org.au
Some Comments from David Shearman
All the reactions to the posters received by me are very complementary. Steve Schneider, climate change scientist at present visiting Australia at the invitation of the South Australian government says “the punchline about mozzies and humans is great”. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the WHO’s climate change initiative says “I very much liked the poster and brochure - I now have a copy of the poster on my wall. As a result our educational efforts DEA will have a link with WHO. There are many messages of praise from members of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment.
The poster project has been our first major educational effort. As always these initiatives become much more time consuming than expected. Sarah Morton, Glen Morris and David King have put in a huge amount of effort and all members of your management committee have played a part. Others who are not DEA members have also helped and we will acknowledge them in our reports. Thank you to everyone.
No doubt we will expand the project but we need more help to do this. We remind members that we are appealing for funds to enable us to have paid secretarial assistance to relieve our work load. To those who have contributed already, we thank you
New South Wales Representatives for the Management Committee
For the past few years our efforts in New South Wales have lagged behind those of other States because we have been unable to attract a representative to the Management Committee. Last year Jo Senior was appointed but she is sorry to announce that she will be resigning as the NSW representative as she feels she cannot devote enough time to the position, given her commitments to her young family, study and work. The Management Committee regrets Jo’s departure and looks forward to her help once more in the future.
It is good news that we now welcome two NSW members to be representatives on the Management Committee, Graeme Horton is in General Practice and has an appointment at Newcastle University. Michael Schien is in rural General Practice. They will present a new and vital perspective for our endeavors. Their details will soon appear on the web page and they will be contacting New South Wales members soon.